This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to various aspects of the present invention that are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Today, there are several DRM systems that allow users to download digital content, such as songs, to a player. Each content item is associated with a license that is needed to access the content.
From a user point of view, a drawback of prior art DRM systems is that it is not possible for two users to exchange content. It will be appreciated that this would be of benefit to the users. If, for example, user A has tired of a song that user B likes and vice versa, it would be interesting for both users to simply switch songs.
Furthermore, when exchanging licenses, a user is likely to want some assurance that his license will not be stolen, i.e. that the user gives away his license without receiving anything in return as agreed with another user. The present invention can help provide such assurance.
In addition, the skilled person will appreciate that it is advantageous to enable such exchange without involving a third party, such as a central server.
At present, though, no such solutions exist and it is an object of the present invention to provide a solution that enables users to swap DRM protected digital content.